I had to respond to your post as it is the same thing I experienced. I haven't claimed for anything other than jobseekers allowance some 15 years ago when I was in between contracts. I have had ME/CFS/Fibromaylgia for some ten years now. It was only last year that I heard about PIP and felt that I would be eligible. I am a private tenant and have not worked for the ten years since I was diagnosed. Like you, I can be in complete full body pain and even walking up stairs has me exhausted and dizzy. The good thing is that I have a very clued up GP who totally understands the illness. After I claimed last October, I had the phone interview by Capita. A woman who had been (apparently) a paramedic. I asked her if she was going to record the interview as I wanted to be sure it was on record. She said she wasn't able to and would I prefer to rearrange the interview. I wanted to get it over, so declined. I felt absolutely sure that I would be eligible but as we all know, this illness comes and goes. Why can't the 'system' be more supportive to the millions of us who have these conditions. After a 3 month wait (with confirmation from my GP) I was refused anything. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I crashed again with ill health. I literally could not be bothered to appeal... I didn't have the energy. Last week I decided to have another go and have just received the paperwork in the post. I feel anxious just thinking about opening it. This country is falling apart...
PIP is about how any disorder impacts on your functional ability to 'reliably' do any of the applicable 12 descriptors. I'm sorry the decision wasn't what you expected. As advised above, you can do a Mandatory Reconsideration, where another DWP decision maker will look at everything again; this is best put in writing.
Whether you look for additional help (try advicelocal.uk/ choosing 'Welfare benefits' from the drop down menu), or do this yourself, I'd suggest looking at where you feel you should have got points, & concentrate on this.
If you hadn't already done so with your claim form, then this is the time to give a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each applicable descriptor, i.e. when did it happen, where, what exactly happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity? So, describe any pain. fatigue, etc.
Say if you can do each applicable activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes you much longer than someone without a disability.
my gp told me to make a complaint about mine, they stated that grab rails in the shower and walking sticks i was told to get by a physio are NOT essential aids as they were not 'prescribed' by a gp, i asked my gp how many walking sticks or grab rails he had 'prescribed' none, they state that i can walk further than i stated, and that 'on the balance of probability', NOT evidence, but probability, that i was lying, they totally ignored everything i said, and stated that nothing had changed since my last assessment in 2018, which is interesting since i had a bad reaction to the covid vaccine which left me only being able to do about 20 minutes a day of normal daily activity and not all in one go, since the vaccine was not available until march 2021 and covid didnt start until 2020, just how my condition hadnt changed since my last assessment in 2018 is beyond me,
they also claimed that i can walk further than i claim because i can drive, and driving uses more limb strength than walking, i damaged my back (3 damaged vertebra and 2 bulging disks) when i was 14, i learned to drive when i was 17 and sitting in a car driving and does not have the same effect on my spine or limbs.
they also claim that my condition has not got worse because i am only on 'basic' medication', i am on the medication i can tolerate, since i have reactions to medications.
Yes I completely understand how you are feeling about it all!! Sometimes PIP assessments are just diabolical.
It has taken me over 2 years to finally be awarded with the maximum amount of points.
Initially I scored zero. I asked for a mandatory reconsideration and even then I still scored zero. At the time I was still getting tested for all sorts because as you know fibro is only diagnosed once everything else is ruled out.
I decided to take their decision to tribunal. DO NOT EVER say that you can get to any assessment or even the tribunal as they will hold that against you too!!!
By the time I had the hearing (by telephone) they had already awarded me some points. Anyway it went straight through very smoothly and they almost instantly agreed that I should be on PIP.
Following on from that I asked them to look at my claim again due to my health deteriorating so much. Once again they didn’t agree so I had to go through the whole process again (mandatory reconsideration) no change! I contested that AGAIN and had a tribunal date set when….., suddenly they agreed (without me having to even go through another tribunal hearing) I was awarded full disability and am currently waiting for a motorbility vehicle. Unknown to myself DWP have their own in house tribunal team who, always assess pre court tribunal. They do this to decide whether they even have a chance of winning. Obviously they decided that they did not so cancelled the court date and upped my points and award.
PLEASE DON’T GIVE UP!!
It’s an absolute sh*t show especially when you feel like you just don’t have the energy to keep pushing.
I understand that many people try to scam the DWP and due to that other genuine claims get rejected.
hello reference to going to a tribunal the case will only decide on your original PIP claim even if your health concerns and conditions have worsened. A lot of claimant's for PIP fail to understand the criteria for claiming and the importance of submitting factual information in regards to their abilities in completing the 12 PIP descriptors safely repeatedly and in a timely manner. Have factual information and evidence of your health condition and diagnosis. Sending in hospital reports treatments and current medications and giving additional information on separate sheets of paper with your NI number and personal information for identification.
These are very good, you pay a subscription but they will get you through it I used their guide and I sailed through both PIP and LCWA on the first attempt. ... Good luck
I had the same then I found a place called communicare through turn2us and they are going to help me fill in the forms and stand by me through the whole process and help me appeal until I get it they have done it for lots of people look on the turn2us website and see which places near you offer the same help it's worth getting them to help you appeal
same thing happened to me and i have to continue to work leaving me exhausted and in severe pain i am taking tramadol to get through the shifts causing me side effects the system is unfair and unjust
I recently had my pregabalin increased from 200 to 250 mg a day because I was in so much pain that I can hardly walk . It felt like I had been kicked between my legs .
Try and contact someone to help you with filling in your P.I.P form. Loads of people who receive the benefit can still be employed although not everyone can do so on a full time basis. It maybe that as you can travel to and from work on your own you wouldn’t get the mobility component. Try your local C.A.B or go online and see if anyone in your area can help.
I really feel for you. As if we haven't enough to contend with. You have to put it as your worse day for everything. If you can't do it one day then you can't do it at all. Let's face it we would all much rather be working and not claiming than having these conditions.I really like the Benefitsandwork site. I have used this site for me, my husband and my daughter.
There is so much good info said by people above. The main thing is don't give up. I asked for a MR which gave me the same results, no points, as they hadn't read my assessment properly. I went to appeal and they gave me my award without going to a tribunal. As someone else said be careful about going to the assessment centre if they ask you to. If there are stairs even if they have a lift you can't use it. I requested a ground floor and a taxi which I got.
That's absolutely terrible! You must instantly ask for a mandatory reconsideration. If that fails you need to go to tribunal.When my son got refused PIP & we had to go to tribunal, I spent every spare minute going meticulously through each of their reasons for refusal. I addressed every lie on every line &made a case for each of them separately.
You can cross reference each point, breaking the silly assessments into numbered items & adding the correct info that you want to convey.
Don't be afraid to write every single item of theirs that conflicts with your story.
You'll end up with a smartly put together document with everything covered.
If it does reach the point of tribunal, take someone with you for support.
Beat wishes as you navigate your way through this nasty process
Appeal. Get citzens advuce or welfare rights to help abd represent you. Depite having DlA foe life i had to transfer to pip( bew rukes bew assessment) lost it, mandatory reconciliation got some back,appeal git more back. You have to keep fighting they bank on you not dooing. My assessmebt was a total fabrication if what happened, the person who cane with me( always take someone with you, necer carry anything other rhan a walking stick) was totally shocked at the report. This one is my review, the only way things have changed is to get worse not better rhan my previous award so im keeping positive....you have to
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